Love Poems and Other Lies

Love Poems...

...and Other Lies...

by Dan Leach

(For All My Loves)

Thoughts on the Golden Sea

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Thoughts on the Golden Sea

Sun upon the water

As you sleep within my arms

Drifting here to nowhere

On a sea that softly calms --

The demons of the night

Have been dispelled into the stars

And I'll surround you as the sea does

Even past the crimson bars

Of Death --

So sleep on,

Gently on,

Gentle Moonbeam.

Our love should be like two balloons,

Dancing on a gilded wind,

Not worrying for what comes soon

Or what comes near the end --

But the sun is setting somewhere

As here our day begins

And we drift slowly on the water

As balloons upon the wind

At dawn --

So sleep on,

Gently on,

Gentle Moonbeam.

III

Were prophecy a pastime

Of lost sailors on the sea,

I'd tell of the lifetime

That you would spend with me --

But now I hold you --

Gently hold you --

And I hope you understand

That I,

No more than a mortal man,

Cannot see the ending thread

Of time --

But if loving can be the kind

Of thing I'll ever do

I'll stay here now for all time

Just to be with you,

Stroking the brown velvet

Of your hair --

So sleep on,

Gently on,

Gentle Moonbeam.

You slowly now awaken,

My small princess in blue jeans --

You smile to me full broadly

And prove to me that moonbeams

Are brighter than the light

Of any sun --

I brush the strands

Of mulch brown hair

From across your face just now

And wonder at the beauty there

Behind your warm brown eyes

And how

Marvelous it is

To live on love

All by itself --

You look to me

And kiss me --

You tell me

That you'll miss me

When I'm gone --

"Gone?" I say --

"Why should I be that?"

And you just smile

And marvel at

The naiveté‚ of sailors

Lost and drifting from their ships --

Then you press your lips

So warmly to my hand

That I truly feel you'll miss me

If gone I ever am

From this place.

Love all day

Is all I know

And quiet peace

At night is here --

I just never know

What to say

Beyond that I care

For you

More than anyone

In life I've ever known --

But we'll spend all eternity

Drifting on the golden sea,

I loving you,

You loving me --

I'll never leave you here alone --

I'll never be from this place gone --

So sleep on,

Gently on,

Gentle love.

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Masquerade

We're here,

you and me,

apart but together,

wearing funny costumes,

but always changing,

always

swapping costumes and masks

as much for our own entertainment

as each other's.

We each have a thousand thousand

masks and faces

in two trunks

each as tall as a man

(mine taller than yours by a foot).

First,

You're a Lady

And I'm a Gent --

All Dressed Up

So Fine,

So Proud,

So Fine,

So Proud --

I give you Roses --

You give me Hell

and become

one of the children

my mother never

let me play with --

all blue-jeaned

and rough

and tumble

and I become

the mean little bastard

that lived down the street

that my mother

never knew

I knew.

I give you Hell --

and fire --

and poetry --

and try

to match your costume.

You take the blossoms of fire

as you did

the fire red roses --

You give me a poem

and spit on me

and I don't understand --

I had thought that it was a game --

that it was fun --

that you agreed --

that that was why we played --

I had thought that you knew that.

I am wrong.

My tears

mingle

with you saliva

on my cheeks

and it's no fun anymore --

and I crawl away

inside my trunk,

and wait for the ball to end.

The music's gone --

The ball has died --

And I peek out of my trunk.

You're still here --

But with another --

Not even apart from him --

So tall,

So muscular,

And

(God forgive him,

Though I probably won't)

Blond.

I want to leave --

to crawl away --

but I care too much

to do that.

i walk meekly over

and softly --

ever so softly --

take the seat beside.

You're scribbling something --

"what?"

i ask.

My poem, you say,

He,

The Blond Giant,

Said he wanted a copy --

"me too,"

i say softly,

and you go on scribbling --

And you ask,

a little nervously,

without looking at me,

if i still want

your summer address.

"of course,"

i say softly,

and you smile

and go on scribbling --

"It's not too neat,"

you tell him,

"but it'll have to do --"

And I smile

because you promised me

a careful copy

and it is I

and not the blond giant

who walks you home.

III

You say you're sorry for the pain

But not the thought and I tell you

It was the thorns and not the flower

That I minded.

And when I kiss you good-bye,

You make me promise to write --

We now kiss once more --

"Have a nice summer!"

"Good night..."

And you're gone.

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Letters

Pages and pages

Of letters from you --

Heartbreaks and triumphs

And lives come unglued --

Rubicons in writing

And Waterloos too --

Teardrops on your couch --

Wine drops on mine --

Of carrying crosses

And what's meant by "divine" --

For more than two years,

We've been trading ideas,

Soft feelings, and kisses,

And, now and then, tears --

We rock with each other

Within worlds unborn

And talk with each other

Across miles of torn,

Waning Earth --

But you'll be with me

Beyond it

In Heaven.

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A Parting

water into water

as the night draws to a close

starlight into sunlight

as rises up a rose

red sun

the time has come

for me to go

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Edits

Dark, the night --

And lonely --

The stars cry out

For want of moon --

Soft, the breeze --

But sapping --

And I reach back to you...

A night like this...

Wet kisses, a surprised smile --

It didn't happen this way,

My desires editing the memory.

A different passion.

Instead of anger about the future,

We look to the pleasures of now.

We make love on the grass,

Amid the cold dew.

Giggling afterwards

Brushing the weeds

From our bodies and clothing.

I'm happy with the edit,

My new memory of that night...

Merging other memories into this one.

It should have happened this way,

With a "happily ever after" --

But we didn't know our lines.

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Published in Muddy River Poetry Review, Winter, 1996

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Perimeter

Loving,

But not touching,

I call to you, sweet friend --

Wanting,

But not having,

I seek to reach within

Your walls --

But you move away.

Look to me --

Are you close enough to mine

To see the poetry inside --

Or just the rocks

And dead leaves

At the perimeter.

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Oasis

You ask me to be

a rose in the desert

you don't want

my free flowing jungle

with all its beasts

and carnivorous plants

in your mind

so I untangle the vines

shrink the trees

withdrawing to

near nothingness

and try to select

the right flower to leave

(sorry, Hon,

no roses).

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Thunder Storm

Smile for me,

Small lady,

And I'll hold you

Warmly tight --

I'll guard you

In my arms,

And stay with you

All the night

Of this storm --

So sleep soundly now

Amid me,

And don't let

The lightening

Frighten you

Anymore.

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Incandescence

I touch you in my dreams

and I know what joy can be

I love you in the silence

of the night

I reach to you with my heart

and you surround me

with the warmth

of your delight

new fire now burns

were once there was

cold kindling

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Blaze

Firelight dances in your eyes

No light is here but this

No sound but of our sighs

Quivering in our kiss

Our passion swirls beside the flame

You tremble in my arms

You say the cold is to blame

That I shouldn't be alarmed

Your softness holds me through the night

And all the next day too

Your eyes within the sun's new light

Glow like my love for you

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Waiting

I wait beneath a bough

For a paper

Penned by your hand

To be brought to me

By courier

That I might understand

What it is,

Why,

And how

That you feel for me in a land

That I may no more see

Than I can

The fowl of night.

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Noise

Take with me quiet company

In an age of lonely noise --

Let me know how things might be

If we were girls and boys

Again,

Soft friend

And gentle love.

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Thoughtful Daydreams

Somewhere --

Somehows --

Sometimes --

Somethings --

Rainbows --

Teardrops --

Soft chimes --

Gold rings --

Thus someone shows you his love as he can --

When far from you, he missed you.

Need I now tell you who is this young man?

I'll give you a hint --

He's just kissed you...

----------------------------

Published in Inspirations from Iliad Press

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The Chase

Chasing shadows --

Those of rainbows --

Chasing raindrops --

Chasing dew --

Chasing colors

That are stellar --

Chasing teardrops --

Chasing you --

The chase is one of merriment --

Sadness --

Darkness --

Brightness --

Yet,

One which one shall ne'er forget--

The chase is one of young love.

-----------------------------------

Published in Inspirations from Iliad Press

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January's Song

A wet chill rinses through me

And I wish that your warm body

I could now have next to me --

But I know that this can't be --

Not just yet, anyway --

And I am cold.

But I also know I'll be able to hold

You in just a few more days --

We'll be together as we once were

And I'll not need fur

To keep me warm --

This makes me calm --

And I trudge on

Through the cold.

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A Thanksgiving Song

With a ring of flowers,

You said I became Baccus,

And we lay for hours

As though none could part us --

So now the touch of marigolds

Across my skin

Brings back the thin

Feel of the crimson folds

Of your dress

Upon my chest --

The memory still holds,

Though you

Are no longer

Here.

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St. Jude

You're happy for the present

And the attention

But not the giver --

You don't want these from me --

An old lover, sometime friend --

You wish I were someone else...

Somehow else...

Then you might have enjoyed the gestures

And been impressed,

But not in this reality,

In this now,

You think I've gone over the edge

Forgotten the ending

Now so long past.

I don't tell you that

I talk to you when you're not there --

Like a dead spouse --

Like I always did...

I don't tell you that

You meet me in dreams --

We're still together there --

I think it's just this time of life for me

One of reflection and looking back

And somehow we're out of synch

It's not your time for this...

You're not in phase for rekindling.

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Detection

Mr. Homles couldn't figure it out

Nor could Mr. Chan

Of that much I'm sure about

It couldn't be a man

Another woman, maybe,

Or, perhaps, an oracle

Could tell me why you treat me

Sometimes like a barnacle

And sometimes like a king

Sometimes loving, sometimes hateful

You tell me it doesn't mean anything

That you're only sometimes wonderful

Sometimes thrilled to hear from me

Others, "weirded out",

Sometimes happy to see me

Others, you turn about

And leave before I've had the chance

To say "Thank you for the dance."

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Beer and Pizza

I hold you bluely

In my gilded arms

And wish you purplely

A fair goodnight --

I limply tell you I'm too tired tonight

For anything else...

And then

Drift slowly

Into a soft

Oblivion --

The acrylic simian

Moves silently

Through a polymer jungle of fluorescent colors,

Pausing once

In a great age

To consider

His position --

"Hmmmmmm.....

About here,

I think..."

And then moves on...

A larger than average golden chimera

Sits beneath a palm tree on the beach --

Cleaning herself amid the waves.

"What are you looking at?"

She asks.

And before I can answer,

She consumes me with fire --

III

A primal scream

Nudges me with

A Freudian innocence...

"Must have been the pizza," I say

"I know what you need --"

You say knowingly with a sly grin and a giggle--

You light a candle and

We lay together again --

My hair

Tangles with yours --

One with

Another

And Another --

Each hugging each hugging each --

The oblivion of passion

Replacing that of the dreams...

You make me stop thinking --

We live now only for the moment --

Afterwards,

As you sleep upon my chest,

I try to remember

What the chasing specters

Were all about --

Until they are upon me again!

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Published in Illya's Honey, Fall, 1995

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The Ring

The first snow

Of Springtime

Falls in Boston --

You say the weather

In Texas is fine --

“Did you get the ring I sent?”

I ask you --

“It’s beautiful!

And it fits just right!”

And I hope that sometime

In the night

Your hand will cross you face

As you wear it --

And that the kiss

I put upon it

Before I sent it

Will find its place --

Its home --

Upon your lips.

----------------------------

Published in Impressions from JMW Publishing Co.

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Autumn's Song

The multi-hued trees

All around

As I held you in my arms

Brought back

The many colored times

I'd succumbed to all your charms --

You crowned my hair

With ivy leaves

And I repaid you with a kiss.

That evening

Of monument hunting

Long shall I ponder this --

That parting touch --

The last caress --

Your smile and fixéd gaze --

Made me want to love --

Hate to leave --

And ever sing your praise...

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Touches

A touch of gray,

a touch of dust,

and one of laughter make a man --

But a touch from you

was needed

before I'd understand

what joy there was

in touching...

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Infidelity

It seems to me unfaithful

When your hair changes hue

Red, gold, honey, yellow,

Which is the real you?

I feel like I’m unfaithful --

You’re a different woman every night.

But you say you don’t change your hair --

It just seems so in this light.

But the light remains the same,

It is faithful to its task --

So how is it that you’ve changed

The highlights then I ask?

No, I’m not complaining --

But I still don’t understand

How colors shift within your curls,

But then, I’m just a man...

And I’ll take the new woman

That you are to me tonight

That is, as long as she’s here,

Till you shift again within the light.

----------------------------

Published in Treasured Poems of America, Summer, 1996

from Sparrowgrass Poetry Forum.

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A Memory

Quiet yellow butterfly --

Gently smiling, slightly wispy --

Come next to me

By sparkling, moonlit water --

You say that I seem distant --

How could you believe my thoughts could be

Elsewhere or elsewhen than here and now?

Let us look to the present

And fearlessly enjoy this moment...

Silent mar’gold butterfly --

Softly touching, lightly whimsical --

Stay close to me

In this nesting place --

Fill me with the soft confection of your sweet lips,

Warm almond eyes, caressful golden fingers --

Drive away the chill of night --

Quietly we touch

And deeply we drink from each other’s souls...

Fare you well, loving butterfly --

Swiftly flying, blushing fully --

Now it is you who is distant --

But though you are no longer here

And never here shall come again --

Remember this kindly:

The warm feel of your wings

Shall remain with me

Until the autumn wind

No longer carries leaves

Of renaissance...

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Published in Impressions from JMW Publishing Co.

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